That is why one of the things I work on with clients early on is a direction-setting narrative. To me, this is not a communications product. It distills the decision about where the organization is heading into something people can understand and use to guide their day-to-day actions.
For me, it needs four elements:
01 STARTING POINT: Where are we coming from, and what are we building on?
→ Change does not start with a blank slate. Organizations need to acknowledge what has been achieved so far, what still serves them, and what they deliberately want to preserve. At the same time, there needs to be clarity about what they are leaving behind. The starting point recognizes what already exists without treating it as fixed.
02 URGENCY: Why can’t we simply continue as we are?
→ This is about the pressure for change. What is no longer working? What risks, opportunities, or tensions make movement necessary? And above all: why does this matter to the people affected? An abstract shift in the market does not, by itself, give people direction. They need to understand why not changing would also be a decision, and one with consequences.
03 FUTURE STATE: What should the new reality look like?
→ Not just: What metric are we trying to achieve? But: How should the organization work in the future? How will collaboration, leadership, or decision-making change? And on a personal level: Where is my place in this? Can I see myself belonging, contributing, and having an impact? A compelling picture of the future therefore touches not only on strategy, but also on identity and belonging.
04 THE PATH: What does this direction mean for how we act?
→ A direction only becomes useful when people can translate it into everyday action. How do we get there? What happens next? What is expected of me? The entire path does not need to be mapped out in advance. But there needs to be enough clarity for people to begin aligning their actions with the direction: What do I actually need to do differently on Monday morning?
If one of these four elements is missing, things quickly become unbalanced:
✕ A narrative that fails to acknowledge the starting point devalues what came before. A direction that does not make clear what will remain creates more uncertainty than necessary.
✕ A narrative without urgency can feel like change for change’s sake.
✕ Without a tangible picture of the future, change becomes movement without direction.
✕ And without a viable path forward, even a compelling picture of the future remains difficult to act on: How are we actually going to make this happen? And where do we start?
A strong direction-setting narrative therefore does more than explain where we are going. It connects where we come from, why change is necessary, what the future should look like, and what that means for how we act.
